1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing structures and, in particular, to joining components to form a structure. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for joining components to form a structure using friction welding.
2. Background
Structures may be manufactured in a number of different ways. For example, machining is a process in which a material is removed from a piece of raw material to form a structure. A piece of raw material, such as metal, may be cut into a final shape using a controlled removal process in a computer numerical control (CNC) machine. These types of machines for removing material include mills, lathes, and other types of cutting machines.
However, more starting material than desired is often needed when machining is used to form a structure from a block of metal. The material removed compared to the material remaining for the structure may be greater than desired from a cost perspective. For example, a flap support structure may be formed by machining a forged block that is about 170 pounds.
In contrast, forming the flap support structure using friction welding may involve components with a weight of 61 pounds. Friction welding is a solid-state welding process that generates heat through mechanical friction.
For example, friction may occur when components are moved relative to each other. Additionally, a lateral force may be used to displace and fuse the components to each other.
During this welding process, moving one or more of the components relative to each other results in a softening of a region of material in the components. The softening of the material results in the material being extruded away from the interface where the welding occurs. This material is flash that forms from the friction welding process. The flash is often not desirable and is removed using machining.
Depending on the number of components being joined together to form the structure, machining may need to be performed between joining operations. For example, the flash formed from joining components may interfere with joining other components. The flash may cover an area where additional joining is desired. Machining may be performed to remove the flash such that other components may be joined.
This process of welding in machining, however, may take more time and effort than desired even though less material is used. For example, setup time occurs in positioning the structure in the machining tool. Additional setup time occurs in placing the structure in new components in a friction welding system.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that into account at least some of the issues. Discussed above, as well as other possible issues. For example, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that overcome a technical problem with reducing the time needed to join components using friction welding to form a structure. More specifically, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that overcome the technical problem with flash being formed during joining of components on locations where subsequent joining is to occur in forming a structure.